Jay Cutler is going to take chances. With his confidence in his arm strength and the catch radius of targets like Brandon Marshall, Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett, Cutler has the green light to let it fly most of the time.

But in his development in the second year in head coach Marc Trestman’s system, the hope is that Cutler will learn to better understand the difference between taking a risk and a calculated gamble.

During Monday’s training camp practice at Olivet Nazarene University, the Bears quarterback had mixed results with some of the shots he took. In one segment of 11-on-11 work, a pass over the middle to Brandon Marshall needed pinpoint precision to complete. But with Jon Bostic trailing Marshall over the middle and Kelvin Hayden also in coverage, Cutler’s pass missed its mark. Hayden picked it off.

Yet in an earlier segment of 11-on-11s, a shot down the middle of the field to Bennett went for a touchdown – even after it sailed too high for the tight end. Safety Ryan Mundy got his fingertips on it, but enough for Bennett to recover for an impressive score.

“In certain situations he’s really hard to cover,” Cutler said of Bennett. “He’s such a big guy. Even some of the intermediate stuff over the middle, he’s able to bang guys and get separation. Obviously he played basketball (in college) so he knows how to high point the ball down in the red zone. We’ve just got to keep throwing different stuff at him and incorporating him in different ways.”

As for the luxury of taking chances with such big targets?

“You kind of just hang balls up there for those guys and they make the play,” Cutler said. “They all do a really good job of finding the ball in the air and knowing when the back-shoulder (throw) is coming.”

Bennett said he’s feeling increasing chemistry with Cutler in their second season together. The tight end also believes Cutler’s obvious comfort in the offense stems not only from his familiarity with the system but also from his confidence that the supporting cast is coming along at a similar rate.

“He’s excited because he knows everyone in our offense grew over the offseason,” Bennett said. “Brandon got better, Alshon got better. Matt (Forte) got better. I got better. Marquess (Wilson) is getting better. The o-line is getting better. So it’s very exciting. You see everyone’s growth. And no tree is outgrowing the other trees. So everyone’s getting a little sunshine. Everyone’s continuing to grow to where no one is shading anyone else.”

Cutler continues to express satisfaction in the way the playbook is evolving as well with Trestman and his offensive staff having a better feel for the identity of the offense and the plays and concepts that work best for their personnel.

“It’s pretty dialed in,” Cutler said. “Not saying it couldn’t change. Some more tweaks here and there. But I think we feel really good about where we’re at, playbook wise and play wise. We’re kind of refining what we want to do this year. We look at some of the stuff we did early last year and we’re like, ‘Why were we running that play?’ So we’re trying to eliminate a lot of those questions throughout the game.”

Cutler will have his say in the process. And he’ll make his greatest statements with his performances on game days, where taking chances will be approved so long as they don’t lead to consistent mistakes.